I find Valentine’s Day is the one holiday which is met with the most mixed reception.  You either love it, you hate it or it’s just another day of the week.  I like Valentine’s Day, but not so much for myself.  I enjoy how much my children look forward to it.

My son is in Kindergarten and this will be his first year to exchange Valentines with his classmates!  There will be a party (featuring my famous chocolate chip cookies!), with games and all sorts of fun things.  My daughter was able to help with her Valentines for family and friends this year.  She is not able to print her name just yet, but she “signed” each card with precise letters of her own creation.  Being able to do this made her very proud indeed!  My children being excited makes me excited.

I have a card picked up for each of them and my Husband and I had planned on taking them out for lunch.  However, due to a major storm warning, we decided to have the special dinner a day early.  We will have TV time with the special “Madly Madagascar” followed by a nice supper.  That’s about it.  I don’t play into the crazy commercialization of Valentine’s Day.  Cards that can cost up to $10, fake flowers, junky candy, silly stuffed toys…all in the name of love?  No thank you very much!  Hubby volunteering to watch the kids so that I can have a few hours out with my friends means so much more to me than an over priced, heart-shaped pillow.

You don’t have to spend much to makes Valentine’s Day fun for your little ones.  Last year I made a fancy bath for my kids complete with pink bubbles, pink lemonade in fancy glasses and heart-shaped rice crispy squares.  They had a blast!  In addition to that, along with their cards I gave them each a book of coupons that I had made myself.  There were five coupons:

1. Good for one batch of your favorite cookies
2. Get out of trouble card (for minor offences only)
3. Good for one deluxe bubble bath (same as the one they had on Valentine’s Day)
4. Good for one Happy Meal with no questions asked (had to be presented before meals were cooked)
5. Good for one movie night ANY night you choose

My kids were thrilled with the coupons!  It made the excitement of Valentine’s Day last a little bit longer and they loved being able to have little treats at the drop of a piece of paper.

So whether you and your special someone are heading out to dinner or you plan on spending the day catching up on laundry, this Valentine is for YOU!